Contents

Origin

The character of Foghorn Leghorn was directly inspired by the popular character of Senator Claghorn, a blustery Southern politician played by Kenny Delmar who was a regular character on The Fred Allen Show, a popular radio show of the 1940s. The rooster adopted many of Claghorn's catch phrases, such as "That's a joke, ah say, that's a joke, son." Delmar had based the character of Claghorn upon a Texas rancher who was fond of saying this.[1]

A leghorn is a breed of chicken, and foghorn describes the character's loud, overbearing voice.

Based on the sheriff character on the radio show Blue Monday Jamboree, Foghorn debuted on August 31, 1946 in the Henery Hawk short Walky Talky Hawky.

History

Foghorn is a large, anthropomorphic adult rooster with a read head, long red tailfeathers, and yellow talons with short yellow claws. He has a Virginian accent, a "good ol' boy" speaking style, and a penchant for mischief. He has a knack of saying, "I say" as a form of interjection in his speech. All of the motion picture Foghorn Leghorn cartoons were directed by Robert McKimson, and the rooster vies with the Tasmanian Devil as the most popular character associated with the director. Many of the gimmicks involve Foghorn and Barnyard Dawg engaging in one-upmanship through a series of pranks. Unlike other Looney Tunes rivalries (with the notable exception of the Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner series), Foghorn is often the initial aggressor out of self-amusement and subsequently on the "losing" end of gimmicks.

Most common among them was Leghorn's taking up a plank of wood, while ambling along humming Camptown Races (the only comprehensible words being "DOO-Dah! DOO-Dah!"), coming to the sleeping Barnyard with his front half inside his doghouse, picking up his tail and rapidly whacking (almost always with eight strokes) his exposed rear end. Occasionally, Foghorn sings the song, but replaces "Camptown ladies sing this song..." with "Lump-teen-dozen and a-doo-dah day...". He does not sing any other part of the song, reverting to humming after the DOO-Dah's. Barnyard would give chase, usually with his leash still attached to his collar, until the leash stretched taut and his barking was replaced by an anguished shriek.

At times, when the dog would continue to bark, he would also yell, "AAAAAAAHHH, shaddap!" In rare cases, Barnyard starts the series of pranks; as such it is somewhat difficult to tell who started the feud. This gag was passed down to Leghorn's grandson in Feather Bluster, where Foghorn was puzzled as to why the youngster was behaving that way and Barnyard was all too happy to remind him: "Ain't nothin' wrong with 'im, Foggy, 'ceptin' that he takes after you." He was joined in a few episodes by a weasel called "Bill" who initially attempted to eat him but ended up joining forces to outsmart Barnyard.

Other recurring themes throughout the cartoons included the attempts of the diminutive Henery Hawk to catch and eat Foghorn, and the rooster's efforts to woo the widowed hen Miss Prissy (often by babysitting her bookish son, Egghead, Jr.). Foghorn's voice was created by Mel Blanc and was later performed by Joe Alaskey, Frank Gorshin, Bill Farmer, and Jeff Bennett. Later, some of Foghorn's characteristic catch-phrases were drawn from the character of Senator Claghorn, a blustering Southern politician who was a regular character on the Fred Allen radio show. The rooster adopted many of Claghorn's catch phrases, such as "That's a joke, I say, that's a joke, son." The references to Claghorn were obvious to much of the audience when the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons first premiered, but like many of the references in WB cartoons of the era, they have since become dated. A toddler version of Foghorn made appearances in short music videos of Baby Looney Tunes.

He starred in only one episode of the show, in which he was trying to fit in with a gang of cool roosters and employed the help of Tweety and his friends before Lola Bunny suggested to just be himself, which came in handy when Barnyard Dawg chased the cool roosters. A leghorn is a breed of chicken, and foghorn describes the character's loud, overbearing voice. At its most raucous, it sounds similar to that of another Blanc voice: Yosemite Sam (a almost exclusive Friz Freleng character). Both parts of the name suggest the association with "Senator Claghorn." Foghorn Leghorn made numerous appearances in Tiny Toon Adventures in numerous roles as Acme Looniversity's Professor of Hound Teasing, Baseball Coach and an obnoxiously loud Librarian. Foghorn appeared in an episode of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries entitled "Family Circles" and was voiced by Billy West. The rooster appeared in two Chuck Jones shorts of the 1990s, Superior Duck (1996) and Pullet Surprise (1997), voiced on both occasions by Frank Gorshin. He was part of the Toon Squad team in Space Jam, and was a croupier at Sam's casino in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In addition, Foghorn appeared in commercials for Jack In The Box, McDonald's, and GEICO. A character named Mr. Leghorn, based on Foghorn himself, made a pair of appearances in Loonatics Unleashed.

Work

Foghorn Leghorn is considered a significant Looney Tunes character, whose sidekick was the Barnyard Dawg. All 29 cartoons in the Golden Age were directed by Robert McKimson.

Design

His voice was created by voice actor Mel Blanc, heavily patterned after the character of Senator Claghorn (hence Foghorn's name), a blustering southern politician who was a regular character on the Fred Allen radio show. Senator Claghorn was created and voiced by radio comedian Kenny Delmar. Foghorn Leghorn also used a number of Claghorn's catch phrases, like "That's a joke, son". The references to Senator Claghorn were obvious to much of the audience when the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons first premiered but like many of the references in WB cartoons of the era they have since become dated and "go over the heads" of most modern-day audiences.

Name

A leghorn is a breed of chicken, and foghorn, a device that makes a loud noise to signal distant ships in the fog, describes the character's bellowing voice.

Quotes

"That, I say, that woman has a mouth like an outboard motor. Put-Put-Put-Put-Put-Put-Put."

"Go, I say, go away, boy, ya bother me!"

"That, I say, that boy's about as sharp as a bowling ball."

"Boy, I say, boy has got a mouth like a cannon. Always shooting it off."